Recent machines for mounting electronic components to printed boards are adapted to operate at high speed, and high-speed supply of the electronic components is demanded to cope with the high-speed operation. For this reason, an increasing number of the mounting machines are fitted to a package transfer system realizing a high supply speed and stable supply of the electronic components to the machines with the use of a carrier tape, i.e. a band-shaped long material having a plurality of recesses to hold the electronic components therein and carry them.
In a conventional electronic component mounting machine, the emptied carrier tape, after the electronic component is removed therefrom, is sequentially cut by a cutting apparatus installed in the machine )referring to Japanese unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 1-164587 and 1-310891).
The conventional carrier tape cutting apparatus installed in the electronic component mounting machine will be described below. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an appearance of the electronic component mounting machine, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the constitution of the conventional carrier tape cutting apparatus in a state while set to the electronic component mounting machine of FIG. 4; FIG. 6A is a perspective view showing the appearance of the constitution in detail of the conventional carrier tape cutting apparatus of FIG. 5; FIGS. 6B and 6C are a side sectional view and a top view of the same apparatus, respectively. And FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the conventional carrier tape cutting apparatus shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6A-6C.
Referring to FIG. 4, reference numerals 1-3 represent respectively a main body part of the electronic component mounting machine, an electronic component feeding apparatus set at the main body part 1 of the electronic component mounting machine, and a carrier tape wound to a reel 4 of the electronic component feeding apparatus 2 and holding electronic components therein. In FIG. 5, reference numbers 5, 6, 8, 9 respectively indicate a suction nozzle for sucking the electronic components out of the carrier tape 3 set from the reel 4 of the electronic component feeding apparatus 2, a dust pipe forwarding an emptied carrier tape 7 after the electronic component is removed therefrom by the suction nozzle 5, a cutting apparatus for cutting the emptied carrier tape 7 sent from the dust pipe 6, and a dust box for storing the carrier tape 7 cut by the cutting apparatus 8, via a dust chute 10.
In FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C, reference numerals 11-18 respectively indicate a main body part of the carrier tape cutting apparatus 8, an slide groove formed in the main body part 11, an upper lid covering the slide groove 12, a movable blade sliding in the slide groove 12 of the main body part 11, a fixed blade disposed above the slide groove 12 for cutting the carrier tape in cooperation with the movable blade 14, a carrier tape insertion part where the emptied carrier tape 7 is inserted into a shear part formed between the movable blade 14 and the fixed blade 15, a roller follower, and a driving part.
The conventional carrier tape cutting apparatus set to the electronic component mounting machine and constituted as above will be discussed with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 7, which is explanatory of the operation thereof. The carrier tape 3 holding electronic components therein is fitted to the electronic component feeding apparatus 2 while being wound to the reel 4, set at the main body part 1 of the electronic component mounting machine, and then sent forward by one pitch by the electronic component feeding apparatus 2 (step 11). After the electronic component stored in the carrier tape 3 is sucked by the suction nozzle 5 (step 12), the emptied carrier tape 7 discharged from the dust pipe 6 of the electronic component feeding apparatus 2 is inserted through the carrier tape insertion part 16 of the cutting apparatus 8. At this time, the movable blade 14 slides toward a forward end in the slide groove 12, thereby cutting the carrier tape 7 by a shearing force exerted together with the fixed blade 15 (step 13). The cut carrier tape 7 drops in the dust chute 10 to be accommodated and collected in the dust box 9.
In the above-described conventional constitution of the carrier tape cutting apparatus 8, the sent carrier tape 7 is simply sequentially cut. This is, the carrier tape 7 is collected in the same dust box 9 without being sorted with regard to whether the carrier tape 7 is formed of paper or resin.
The present invention is devised to solve the above issue inherent in the prior art, and has for its object to provide a carrier tape cutting apparatus whereby a cut carrier tape can be sorted and collected in accordance with a material thereof, without any limit as to the amount of different materials, when the carrier tape holding components therein is set to a component feeding apparatus. Also provided is a component mounting machine having the carrier tape cutting apparatus.